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The Complexity of Business Communication

CoachStation

Compare Michael Porter’s competitive advantage definition: “Competitive advantage, sustainable or not, exists when a company makes economic rents, that is, their earnings exceed their costs (including cost of capital).” We make up (short) stories in our heads for every action and conversation. (2)

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A Refresher on Marketing ROI

Harvard Business Review

In its simplest form, it looks like this: The goal, as with any ROI calculation, is to end up with a positive number, and ideally as high a number as possible. Some companies establish a threshold for MROI that takes into account its risk tolerance and cost of capital, below which they are hesitant to make investments.

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What Shareholder Value is Really About

Harvard Business Review

Critics imply that managing for shareholder value is all about maximizing the short-term stock price. While some executives allow that they should not manage to increase the short-term stock price, they remain reluctant to embrace the concept of managing for shareholder value. Creating Shareholder Value.

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How CMOs Can Get CFOs on Their Side

Harvard Business Review

To date, however, the reality of marketing analytics has fallen short of the promise. Just 36 percent of CMOs, for example, have quantitatively proven the short-term impact of marketing spend, according to the 2013 CMO Survey (and for demonstrating long-term impact, that figure drops to 32 percent).

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How to Quantify Sustainability’s Impact on Your Bottom Line

Harvard Business Review

But we recognize that, in many businesses, resources are often allocated according to short-term, bottom-line pressures. We set about investigating the financial costs and benefits of the uptake of sustainable and deforestation-free beef by ranchers, slaughterhouses, and retailers in Brazil. Marfrig stands to gain between $1.3

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4 Ways Leaders Can Get More from Their Company’s Innovation Efforts

Harvard Business Review

Even if executives try to prioritize it, innovation often gets crowded out by more “urgent” short-term pressures. For any business to succeed over the long term, it must earn a return that exceeds its cost of capital. Here are four things leaders can do. Don’t Get Trapped in Your P&L.

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Why Sit on All that Cash? Firms Uncertain on Cost of Capital

Harvard Business Review

With a record $2 trillion in cash and short-term liquid assets on hand, U.S. Many are deeply uncertain about which initiatives they should fund — and one root of this indecision is a general lack of confidence in the cost of capital projections they are using to make the call. What's holding them back?